I've had the babies for almost a month now, and they're doing really good. In just this last week they started eating a few solids. Today we bought some treat for them, and it was really cute to watch the reaction. They have such "human" movements.

Just to show you how little they were again when they joined our life.

But now a month later. So cute! Got a little milk dripping off the mouth.

I put them in the bathtub during feeding times right now. I just lay out a towel, give them a variety of things to munch on, and let them have fun. And they DO have fun. They chase eachother, and play hide-and-seek. I have fun too just watching them.

I'll continue to do updates on them - probably right here in this post. I just wanted to share. :)

They're outside now, in a much larger cage. The cage is 3'x3', and 8' tall. They really love all that space. I'll release them in a few months on the other side of the pond. I had one escape on me one day, and the little brat was a big tease and sort of mean. :) I guess I spoiled them too much. I did manage to get it back inside the cage by tricking it. It's a good thing too. The squirrels aren't afraid of the cats, and this little baby thought lounging in the grass was fun. He needs to get older and realize that TREES are a better place to hang out. All five of the squirrels survived though, and doing fantastic. But I decided with the way he acted, I'd expect the others to act the same way - not afraid of cats, friendly (will climb on your head), but really rough about taking food (quick moves, while scratching and biting).... I don't think I want them right in my front yard. I think the 15 acres of woods on the OTHER side of the pond would be better. :)

Who knows. :) Might not be anything this year. Most of the babies come around April. I think all the birds are grown now - with none falling out of nests. :) But usually it's baby birds around here I take care of. Once I had 4 woodpeckers!

They are truely cute. I have a gray one out at my dads, fully wild yet likes to follow me arond and let me follow it. I was hunting one day and he was the only one I saw, I was following him tell he led me into some brush, the little bugger got back around me and climbed up my shoulder. He isnt that brave anymore but he still follows me around, he sits up in the trees when it is deer hunting season and watches me and throughs things down on me, he laughs(barks) The funniest thing I have seen him do is get to caulky and jump for a tree and miss about 30 feet in the air, he fell in a big pile of leaves that went everywhere, he poped his little head up like "what the f^%# happened, and went off to play some more. they are great. bye

It's very possible you met a little one some other rescuer had raised and released. I couldn't imagine a squirrel that was raised fully in the wild (other than park squirrels) that would be so friendly. That's a pretty cool experience.

no one lives with in a mile of my dads farm and that is the closest, all others are 5 miles and no one knows how to even get into my dads farm, we have a creek road. In other words we drive through the creek for about a quarter of a mile so we have a hidden enterance. then up the hill and out to the feilds.

Weeeell....I can't say it's totally impossible that the little squirrel you met is really wild (raised in the wild that is). But I'll tell you, many rescuers will go out of their way to find "hidden" and "safe" places to release their rescued ones. I used to work at an animal shelter, and the manager would often rescue squirrels, owls, opposum, or raccoons and she had some special places she released them. She refused to tell anyone the places. All she said was that these places were way off regular roads, with no homes in sight, and one place had an old barn for shelter.

It just seems so unlikely to me that this squirrel had never had regular contact with a human, and then chose to check you out. (Really not trying to be difficult or argue. :) )It would just seem more likely that a rescuer went down your road, thinking "this looks like a place no one goes - this squirrel will be safe from hunters here".

Way back when I was in my teen years, I had a Great-Uncle that worked at the Huntville prison (Texas). There was an inmate (on death row I believe) who had raised a squirrel in the prison. When it came his time to go (how ever that might have been) he asked my uncle if he could give the sqiurrel to a good home. I ended up with Herculies. The inmate had built a little cage that was long and rounded over the top with a handle for carrying. I would normally have the cage sitting on a dresser or something in my room and the squirrel would just run free. He found a heavey winter parka, the type the army use to have, that my dad use to wear when riding his motercycle. The squirrel made a nest of sorts in the lining and stored his nuts in it. We mostly feed him pecans that had the shell cut from around the middle. I can't remember what all else we feed him.

One year I went off to Colorado with my grandparents for a few months. The poor squirrel had to stay in his cage while I was gone. When I got back home I opened the cage and was on the bed reading a book. The squirrel attacked my arm, chewing out several chunks of skin before I could even react and get him off.

I some how managed to cage him again, but never trusted him enough to let him out. My dad built a huge cage for him out side and dad got bit in the process of getting him in the bigger cage.

I ate a peach and cracked the seed open. I thought Hurculies might like that so I took it out to him. A short time later I went out and he was dead on the cage floor. Guess what. Peach seeds are poisonous.

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:rainbowflower: Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. :rainbowflower:

That's a very sad story! The irony, however is very interesting. Both the squirrel and it's first owner were incarcerated. Both commited a crime ( of sorts, biting yours and then your fathers arms ) and both were put to death ( of course the squirrel unknowingly ). I have heard that peach pits contain fairly high levels of arsenic. How did this effect you in your teen years?

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By the rude bridge that arched the floodTheir flag to Aprils breeze unfurledHere once the embattled farmers stoodAnd fired the shot heard round the world-Emerson

I'm not one of those people that fall to pieces over an animal dying. I felt bad because I fed the peach seed to him and killed him, but I didn't mope around whinning about it being my fault, heck I didn't know at the time about peach seeds. Before that I had several pets die in variouse ways. I've had a wide variaty of pets.

I was more or less raised on a farm. I help one of my grandfathers casturate pigs and later butcher them. I've had to put animals down. So your question, " How did this effect you in your teen years?" Surely there was some affect. Perhaps a little learning about life and how swiftly it can vanish because of ignorance or just not paying attention.

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:rainbowflower: Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. :rainbowflower:

Squirrels can be funny and tricky little critters to raise. That's why I knew I wasn't going to keep the babies I had, but insisted they go wild. They have (as I've heard) a very sensitive system to lots of things - corn making them hyper and mean is one thing I've heard. I've also heard that many baby squirrels can be lovely pets for the first year or two, then hit full puberty and get very mean. My old boss that did rescue, had a lovely (and very gentle) 4 or 5 year old female fox squirrel that some one gave her for rehab. The woman that had raised the squirrel all these years, accidentally gave the squirrel some pecans that had gone toxic (they had been stored in a plastic bag, gotten warm, and sweated in the bag - turned rancid quickly). Anyway, a small amount of these pecans sent the squirrel into a seizure, and the back legs became paralyzed. So my boss took the squirrel home, and she has had it now for the last 3 years. It's still gentle, but lives in a cage outside.

I do not think you are cold hearted. I know what you mean though. It is alot different being raised on a farm. We take things differently. I hate it when people torture animals and keep them for the wrong reasons. The only reason we kill chickens is for food and only the roosters get that except one that is my pet. The rabbits only get killed if they have something wrong with them that threts the others and cant be cured, I cant eat my own bunnies. And I had to cut my goat open when she was kidding and I found her dead, cut her open to save the kids. I also dont like it when people hunt and dont get a clean kill and let the animal suffer. If you know you arent going to kill it dont shot it. I get angry when people kill animals for the "SPORT" and just stuff the head and through the rest away. If you kill a animal use as much of it as you can so it isnt killing without a perpose, that is just wrong. bye